CSS background color/image question

I've discovered (basically by error of omission) that if I fail to
include a background color or graphic in my stylesheet the background
defaults to white. I've viewed the page in IE 6.0, Mozilla 1.4, and
Opera 6.05.

If I want a white background can I safely leave that out of my
stylesheet? What happens in older browsers? I remember from years
ago that if no background was specified in the body tag the background
was a flat gray, #c0c0c0, I think. Is the white produced in the above
browsers a true white: #ffffff ??

Then again, maybe the white background I'm seeing is from the default
settings in the browsers..... ?????

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"Leslie" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I've discovered (basically by error of omission) that if I fail to
> include a background color or graphic in my stylesheet the background
> defaults to white. I've viewed the page in IE 6.0, Mozilla 1.4, and
> Opera 6.05.
>
> If I want a white background can I safely leave that out of my
> stylesheet? What happens in older browsers? I remember from years
> ago that if no background was specified in the body tag the background
> was a flat gray, #c0c0c0, I think. Is the white produced in the above
> browsers a true white: #ffffff ??
>
> Then again, maybe the white background I'm seeing is from the default
> settings in the browsers..... ?????

Correct. And it is a user changable setting as you will discover if you (IE)
drop down tools->internet options->general->color.

If you specify a colour for text you should specify a background colour as
well. You may just choose a text colour identical to the users default
background colour.

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On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 01:51:17 GMT, "rf" <> wrote:
>
>"Leslie" <> wrote in message
>news:...
>> I've discovered (basically by error of omission) that if I fail to
>> include a background color or graphic in my stylesheet the background
>> defaults to white. I've viewed the page in IE 6.0, Mozilla 1.4, and
>> Opera 6.05.
>>
>> If I want a white background can I safely leave that out of my
>> stylesheet? What happens in older browsers? I remember from years
>> ago that if no background was specified in the body tag the background
>> was a flat gray, #c0c0c0, I think. Is the white produced in the above
>> browsers a true white: #ffffff ??
>>
>> Then again, maybe the white background I'm seeing is from the default
>> settings in the browsers..... ?????
>
>Correct. And it is a user changable setting as you will discover if you (IE)
>drop down tools->internet options->general->color.
>
>If you specify a colour for text you should specify a background colour as
>well. You may just choose a text colour identical to the users default
>background colour.
>
>Cheers
>Richard.

Thanks, Richard. It was only after I'd typed all but the last
sentence of this post that the browser default setting occurred to me.

I'm sure default font size is something a lot of people change for
various reasons, but do many really change the default background
color? Why would someone do that?

Leslie <> wrote in
news::
> I'm sure default font size is something a lot of people change for
> various reasons, but do many really change the default background
> color? Why would someone do that?

Personal preference, lighting conditions, eyesight, who knows?

Christopher Schmidt has distinguished three "audience categories" for Web
sites:

1) "Readers" who are looking to read fairly lengthy narrative prose,
poetry, or view works of fine art.

2) "Customers" who are looking to accomplish a specific short-term task,
such as buying a product or answering a technical question.

3) "Experience seekers" who are primarily concerned with the aesthetics and
avant-gardeness of what they see on the Web.

People who spend a lot of time in the first category are probably very
likely to customize their browser's presentation settings, since their
biggest concern is that the material is as readable as possible to them
(and remember that reading on screen is usually harder than reading on
paper). People who are primarily in the last category are probably
unlikely to do much customization. People primarily in the middle category
probably won't do much customization unless they find the defaults
particularly annoying.

Interesting.... I've always made sure there is sufficient contrast
between the bg color and font color, but I've never given any thought
to viewers overriding my color choices. Something to think about!

how many people actually change the default bg color, and do you make
that change for ALL sites? or just those you find harder to
read.....?? If you change the bg color do you also change the font
color?

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